Here is the music list for Candlemas at St. Paul’s, Philadelphia (TLM):
No Great Composers Since Purcell—Part 6,431
Some music commentators have been given to say that England hasn’t had any great composers since Henry Purcell. I often think of this strange sentiment every time I happen upon a new English composer who is fantastic, if not frankly downright great. A more recent discovery of mine is Francis Pott, who is part of a whole movement of composers from that country who are continuing its tradition of choral music, the tradition that introduced the European continent to the major third as a consonance in the fifteenth century.
Heinrich Isaac’s Missa Carminum
This past weekend at St. Paul’s in Philadelphia we sang Heinrich Isaac’s Missa Carminum. It’s a bit of a strange piece but lovely nonetheless. For one thing, the voicing is tricky, at best. As far as I can determine, this should really be sung STTB. The high tenor part can be done with a countertenor, but even transposing as high up as A-flat would still make it an acrobatic part that crosses over many singers’ breaks. It’s probably better to have two tenors in general. We sang it in F# (we have a courageous and competent countertenor) but the next time we do it, I just might take it up another full step. I’m also tempted to make my own version with the note values halved. The one recording of this Mass on iTunes features a men’s choir with a children’s choir, which might be one of the better ways to mind the gap between the top two voices. As unusual as the voicing is, it gives the piece a fantastically rich sonority, warm and delicious and yet workaday.
Memento mori
It has not been a particularly good week for musicians. First Gustav Leonhardt died, and then Etta James (what a voice!) and now, sadly, word has gotten around that Gerre Hancock, long time organist and choirmaster at St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, died today in the arms of his wife and colleague, Judith.
Steve Jobs on Gregorian Chant
I got eight books for Christmas, so I’ve been trying to get through them as quickly as possible so that I don’t lose momentum and neglect any of them. Last night I stayed up until I finished the exceedingly lengthy biography on Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. It is at turns highly informative and inspiring, not to mention a tad bit repetitive and gory, I must say, but a worthwhile read.
Upcoming Concerts of Kile Smith’s Vespers
It hardly seems like four years ago that Kile Smith’s Epiphany Vespers, commissioned by the early music ensemble Piffaro, made its premier in Philadelphia. Conductor Donald Nally led his own chorus The Crossing, which specializes in contemporary music, along with Piffaro in a work of singular originality.
Michael Procter’s Transcription of Alma Redemptoris Mater
In my programming, I try to do a good portion of new music. I think it’s important, not least because for certain audiences it brings a whole world to life that they otherwise wouldn’t know. Some years ago, radio stations were swamped with phone calls when they played Henryck Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3. How many of them were turned on to classical music because of that experience? Similarly, one of my singers tells me that as she was listening to the recording of our performance of Wilko Brouwers’s Missa Alme Pater, her husband, a folk singer not particularly interested in “serious” music (I hate that term; anyone have a better one?), was intrigued. New music is a gateway.